


Lafayette's a smart man, he'll be fine

by Myrte46



Category: Hamilton - Miranda, Temeraire - Naomi Novik
Genre: (for Hamilton that is), 1808 - Time period, Alternate Canon, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, American Politics, As historical accurate as dragons go, British Politics, Canon Era, Canon Het Relationship, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, French Characters, French Politics, French Revolution, Historical Fantasy, Historical Inaccuracy, Imprisonment, Lafayette-centric, Minor Character Death, Minor Temeraire appearances, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Alternating, Past Character Death, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-11
Updated: 2019-05-26
Packaged: 2020-03-01 00:50:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18789658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Myrte46/pseuds/Myrte46
Summary: Lafayette and his dragon, Etoile, decide to go on a little trip to London to work through the death of Lafayette's wife, Adrienne, after she passed away on the Christmas of 1807. They get more then they bargained for when they get imprisoned by some British scouts and shipped off to South-America to avoid causing more trouble then they're worth. After two months of boredom, they set on a journey to get out of the British grasp and back to the familiarity of the United States.





	1. Lafayette

_Spring 1808_

 

There is something about the vast open space in the air that had always pulled Lafayette towards it. There was something about dragons that did the same. So, having his own dragon to soar the skies with was absolute amazing. Except that it wasn't possible with English patrols guarding the channel from France to England and the quarrels between the two countries, having Lafayette forced to stay inland, with way less space than the far open ocean he'd enjoyed in America.

Oh, how Lafayette wished he could go back to America. But he was stuck here in France for the duration of the disagreement between France and America. He hoped to know more about how America was doing, but with the British occupying the seas, he only occasionally got a letter form Thomas Jefferson, usually accompanied by a little gift.

Lafayette was lying flat on top of his Fleur-de-Nuit, Etoile, flying and letting the dragon have her fun, soaring the skies. Lafayette fully trusted his companion to know the way, because he couldn’t see during the dark hours. He just wanted to fly around the open sea, even if it was only a short flight over the channel between England and France for a little day trip in London. He set out a few days to travel to the channel, and now finally they were at the sea. Lafayette had been stuck in his castle too long and needed to get out for a little trip to do something exiting. Etoile had bothered him for it too just as long until Lafayette gave in.

“Dragons, up ahead,” Etoile called out in French.

Lafayette tried to see what Etoile was seeing and after a while he saw the lights of the approaching dragons far of in the distance, a few miles until they would reach them. “I got them. English or French? Looks like a patrol,” Lafayette replied in the same language. There were more than three dragons over there. All lightweights. This wasn’t going to be good for the single dragon if the patrol ended up English.

“English,” Etoile said, and Lafayette shook his head in surprise. The English were driven away far to the north of their land, while Napoleon and his forces had control over London. Although that was slipping, according to the latest reports. Lafayette didn’t want anything to do with the war and Napoleon’s rule, but he did want to know what was happening, before undertaking such a thing as traveling to London for a day.

“Land up ahead,” Lafayette instructed, hoping they could remain undetected when they were on the ground, at least for a little while, until the patrol passed.

“It’s all open sea!” Etoile said, her head going from side to side to find a landing spot that would support them, like a rock or a boat.

Lafayette swore under his breath. This wasn’t going to be good at all. “Fly as low as you possibly can. Stay out of their path,” he instructed.

Etoile dove for the sea, flying just above the roaring waves, barely able to avoid them.

“I don’t want a repeat of last time,” Lafayette said. Last time was the same kind of situation as this and that had ended with Lafayette and Adrienne almost getting crushed by the big dragon somewhere in the middle of France on another one of their trips.

Lafayette ended up with scars.

Etoile scoffed. “I don’t want to end up dead, Laffy, either of us.”

“Thanks for the concern,” Lafayette smiled and rubbed the scales of Etoile’s neck. He looked up at the quickly approaching dragons, hoping they were camouflaged enough with the dark purple pattern on his dragon and the night to give them cover. He didn’t want to be spotted. “Close your eyes.” The eyes of a Fleur-de-Nuit gave light in the dark and he didn’t want that to betray them. Lafayette had a clear view over the approaching sea, and there was nothing to bother them anytime soon.

Etoile complied, and Lafayette took over the eyes of their two-man group, making sure he kept Etoile straight and on path, barely above the roaring waves of the sea.

There was dead silence as they flew under the patrol, mainly consistent of scouts, clearly there to assess the situation on what to do next or how to go and invade London again.

The way they were hiding wasn’t enough. Someone clearly heard them, and Lafayette could hear the yelling on the enemies’ dragons overhead. “Get us out of here,” Lafayette hissed to Etoile, and Etoile obliged immediately, sprinting away from the patrol as fast as her wings could carry them.

They needed to outrun the dragons to French territory. That was the only option, or they were lost. Lafayette had no intention of ending up in the English cells. Who knew what would happen to his Etoile? Nothing good. That’s certain.

The chase began. Lafayette looked back to the dragons. There were about five of them, all armed to the teeth while Lafayette only had his saber and a pistol in case of emergencies. They needed to sprint if they wanted to stay away from them.

Thankfully, Lafayette was the only rider on Etoile and the lightweights had multiple people on their backs. That added up in the speed they could put in to this chase. The Fleur-de-Nuit could see in the night and the dragons that were following them couldn’t.

Now hopefully that was enough to shake the pursuers off.

Lafayette kept looking back. The lightweights were catching up on them. It wouldn’t be enough. They wouldn’t get out of there soon enough. They wouldn’t find shelter if they stayed on their tail like this.

Maybe a patrol could come by. A big French patrol or a French boat would be amazing. Then they had a chance to fend off the dragons together. Lafayette wouldn’t make it alone. He didn’t have the tools to fight.

He scanned the horizon for any sign of saviors. Any sign of help. Any sign that this wouldn’t be as bad as it looked.

The only thing Lafayette saw was the approaching dawn, the colors filling the sky and the beautiful reflection that cast on the ocean. They were supposed to be in England by now, and the thin line of the horizon said they were close, but not close enough.

They were done for unless a miracle happened. “Close your eyes,” Lafayette ordered Etoile. He didn’t want her to damage her eyesight with the harsh rays of the sun.

Etoile did as Lafayette asked and then the real fun started, with Lafayette in control of the chase. He tried to get and stay away from the other dragons, having Etoile preform a set of highly difficult maneuvers which made it nearly impossible to board.

 

In the end, it was all for nothing. Lafayette was surrounded and he had multiple guns pointed at him and Etoile.

He had no choice but to surrender.

Lafayette put his hands up and Etoile groaned as one of the men boarded her. The cold metal of a gun pressed in Lafayette’s neck not a moment after and the man clipped himself to Etoile’s gear. The feel of the gun against his neck sent shivers down Lafayette’s spine. One wrong move and he was dead, he fully realized that and it scared him, although he kept his face carefully blank. This wasn't the first time he found himself in an unsavory situation such as this.

“English?” the one holding a gun to his head asked with the typical British accent Lafayette had never found pleasant.

“I can speak English,” Lafayette replied. He hadn’t spent years in America to not know English. His speech might be heavily accented, but he knew people could understand him if he spoke.

“Good. That makes everything easier. Please follow the Greyling.”

Lafayette looked at the little group of lightweights and picked out the Greyling easily enough. “I will,” he said and leaned forward, putting his hands back on the saddle so he could guide Etoile after the small grey courier. He had no intention on getting himself killed. He trusted Etoile to obey his wishes. In the light of the morning sun she was blind and had no other option than to follow Lafayette’s lead.

“I don’t like this,” Etoile called out in French. “You could be killed! I don’t want you killed, Laffy!”

“That makes two of us, Etoile,” Lafayette said and looked back at the man holding a gun to the back of his neck.

“Shouldn’t you be commanding a dragon?” The man asked with a hint of venom in his voice, and Lafayette looked back out over the waves, correcting Etoile’s position a little so she was flying in the middle of the patrol. “Where’s the rest of your crew? Certainly, a man of your position wouldn’t ride a dragon alone.”

“I ride this dragon the American way, monsieur,” Lafayette said and hoped the other knew he meant that he was the only one riding this dragon and that there was no crew. Lafayette preferred not to have any others bothering him and Etoile. They could make it perfectly fine on their own. Less provisions and organization needed as well.

The man didn’t say anything more, and the rest of the flight was quiet until around noon, where the man sat next to Lafayette instead of behind him. “Do you have any food?” He asked.

Lafayette nodded and reached back in his bag to give the other his limited rations. He had one more portion, but he knew he had to save that for the evening. With how much his stomach was in knots because of the gun at his face, he was surprised if he could eat. He wasn’t going to try it out. “Can I climb on Etoile’s head and cover her eyes?” He asked as the man ate.

The man looked at Lafayette before shrugging. “If that makes you happy,” he said.

Lafayette nodded and carefully unclipped himself from Etoile’s gear to climb over her neck to her head in a move they both practiced a hundred times until Lafayette wouldn’t make any mistakes anymore. He got the gear in his hand and carefully tied the gear around her head so she could relax her eyes and not get blinded by the sun.

After that, he climbed back to the base of her neck and clipped himself to the gear.

The man didn’t say anything anymore for the rest of the flight.


	2. Lafayette

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lafayette and Etoile arrive in Scotland and negotiations attempt to happen but Lafayette is too tired for that bullshit.

They reached the Scottish grounds by the next morning, and Lafayette was forced to land just off the coast in the middle of the group of dragons, watched from all sides. He was dead tired from flying for two days with only a short nap, and he could see Etoile was ready to pass out. She couldn’t even stand on her legs anymore.

“Get off of you dragon,” the man holding a gun to the back of Lafayette’s head said.

Lafayette unclipped himself from Etoile’s harness and slid down, landing next to her. “May I remove her riding gear?” he asked and looked back at the man.

The man seriously thought about this and Lafayette waited on his reply with his hands behind his back and back straight, looking the man head on. Never let your opponent know what you were feeling, didn’t matter if it was a fancy party, a negotiation or a hostage situation.

“Yes, you may,” the man eventually replied, although he definitely didn’t like the idea.

Lafayette quickly got to work on removing the gear from Etoile’s back, rubbing the soreness out of her shoulders. He put the gear down next to her and stood at her head to check if he put the headgear on correctly. “Sleep, my dear. You need it,” he said and leaned against her head.

Etoile bumped her head against Lafayette’s chest. “I don’t want you to go, Laffy,” she said softly in French as not to let the other’s know what they were talking about.

Lafayette stroked a hand over her snout to calm her down and reassure her. “I know. But I will come back. I promise.” Lafayette sighed. He knew he would come back, most likely. Nobody ever said anything about the shape he would be in and the things that happened to him in the meantime or what would happen to the two of them after.

“Alright, time’s up, let’s go,” the man said and grabbed Lafayette’s arm, dragging him away from Etoile.

Lafayette didn’t oppose and walked with the man, looking back at his Etoile to see her lay on the ground and curl up as tight as the middleweight dragon possibly could.

For the lack of a better word, Lafayette would call the look defeated, especially since she usually sprawled out as large as she could be, annoying other dragons.

During the American war, Hercules’s Greyling would always lay on top of her, with Alex’s green dragon curled up in her side and John’s skyblue dragon on top of that, even though that didn’t really fit. It always looked comical, and when they woke up they were a tangle of wings, necks and tails. This was just sad.

They should’ve stayed in America. They were happy there. But Lafayette had a life in France he couldn’t neglect any longer, even though Etoile had never set foot on French soil until after the war for American independence ended. He had two daughters, a son and a wife to return to. He knew Adrienne loved him until her last breath last Christmas and he would love her until his.

He really wanted to go back to his castle now. Curl up warm and cozy under the blankets with all his kids and grandkids and tell them stories about the war.

The aviator led Lafayette to a building and down the dark and depressing halls of said building.

It had some idea for style at least, so that was nice to look at, but too dark for Lafayette’s taste. Like a prison. It didn’t help his mood the slightest. Not after he’d already spend years of his life in prison a little over ten years ago.

The aviator led Lafayette to a room that was decorated in dark reds and yellows, with the later serving as highlights. The seats didn’t fit in, with their bright pink and white colors in the overall dark-toned room. In one of those chairs was a man with a smirk that seemed a permanent feature of his face. “You must be the French Aviator, no?” he asked in French.

“I’m fluent in English,” Lafayette replied in English as he was harshly put in a seat opposite of the man, looking up at his captor with annoyance and tiredness. He had flown all night and just wanted to land and have a nice, well deserved sleep, preferably curled up at Etoile’s side on the soft grass just outside of London. He wasn’t young anymore, and the long flight had taken a toll on him.

“Oh?” the man said and smiled. “That makes this a lot easier.” He continued smiling and shifted in his seat until he looked like Lafayette and he were old friends.

Lafayette didn’t like this guy. He was trying too hard to make this comfortable and easy and normal while it was none of that. “What do you want from me?”

“You have a Fleur-de-Nuit, your aviator clothes are American-made and you’re the only person controlling your dragon, also like the Americans. There’s only one person I know of that is like, and that would be Gilbert du Mortier,” the man explained and leaned forward slightly, putting the tips of his fingers and looking over them at the tired man in front of him.

Lafayette leaned back in his chair and away from the man, crossing his arms and glaring as if that would make this problem go away. His clothes were American-made because he smuggled Etoile out of France when she was still in her egg and hatched on the travel there, so he only got Aviator clothes once he arrived in America. He wasn’t in the mood for such bullshit like this. He wanted to sleep. “That would be me, yes.” He knew social etiquette was a thing, but with this stranger in a place he didn’t want to be and the fact that he didn’t sleep for roughly two days made him not bother at all right now.

“What we want from you is simple. We want your dragon. A Fleur-de-Nuit would be perfect for either nightly stealth missions with a trusty British Aviator or breeding. It depends on you what it’s going to be,” The man explained. “Outside of that, you would be better off if you weren’t anywhere near here the slightest to interrupt our squabble with the French.”

“How about none of that?” Lafayette asked. “You get us passage on a ship to America and you won’t have trouble ever again.”

“No no no,” the man said and chuckled. “That would be a waste of resources. You must choose, sir. We are keeping the dragon and ship you off to South America to get you far away from here. We would send you to Australia, but you’d most likely stage yet another revolution there. Two revolutions against the British is quite enough.”

“Let me sleep on it and I’ll give you a proper answer in the morning,” Lafayette said and ran a hand through his curls, fixing his hair quickly so it wasn’t all over the place from flying.

“Of course. You must be exhausted,” The man said and got up. “Follow me. I’ll guide you to one of our guest rooms. Only the best for a famous man such as yourself. How about next to the King’s quarters? He might give you a nightly visit in his current state, but otherwise he won’t be a bother.”

Lafayette didn’t reply. Most likely he wouldn’t be guided to a fancy room next to a high-level target such as the King. His suspicion rang true once they started descending stairs, down to the dungeons and the scent of death that permanently hung there. “I thought I was your guest, not your prisoner?” Lafayette asked, too tired to oppose the man or try and run another way. He had nowhere to run where he wouldn’t be caught and he didn’t know the way back to Etoile.

“Yes, but all our guestrooms have windows big enough to climb through, and we wouldn’t want unfortunate accidents to happen now, do we?”

Lafayette didn’t agree to that, but kept his mouth shut as they stopped in front of a cell door and the man opened it up, putting a hand on Lafayette’s lower back and gently but sternly pushing him inside of the cell.

Lafayette walked inside and saw that it wasn’t even the worst cell he could have. At least it appeared clean and had two wooden benches to sleep on. One of the benches was occupied by another person, also clearly a prisoner of war, judging by the Aviator’s clothes on his person. English aviator clothes, noticeably.

Lafayette didn’t want to bother greeting him, and sat on the free bench, the door clicking closed behind him. “If you want to talk, we’ll do it when I wake up again,” Lafayette told the British Aviator and curled up on the bench, using his jacket as pillow.

Thankfully he slept in worse places during the war and thus had no trouble falling asleep, especially since the British Aviator left him alone.


	3. Etoile

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Etoile is forced to take a new rider and a new name, but she isn't happy with it the slightest.

Etoile had seen battles and fights and dark winter nights that were nearly fatal, but none of that made her as scared as what was happening now. She had no idea what to do, surrounded by English dragons with her sight taken away for her protection.

Feet approached Etoile, and she looked up to the person walking to her.

The human stopped in front of Etoile and scraped his throat. The man smelled of wood smoke and oil instead of the leather and home she was used to from Laffy. “I’m your new rider,” the man said and sounded like it was a fact and not based on mutual consent. “If you don’t do exactly as I say, we’ll hurt your old rider.”

Etoile didn’t know who this man was, but she didn’t want anything happening to her Laffy, so she had to say yes. “I’ll do what you say.”

“Great!” The rider said and Etoile could hear the glee in his voice, like he just didn’t have to do a hard task anymore. As if Etoile could’ve said no when the man threatened her Laffy. “I’m going to remove your blindfold now.”

“Is it night?” Etoile asked, having no indication of evening. She pulled her head out of the reach of the human, not wanting to damage her eyes if he did decide to pull her blindfold off and expose her eyes to the sun. The stones were still warm but the sun didn’t shine down on her anymore. She didn’t want to accidentally blind herself if the sun was just behind a building.

“The sun is behind the horizon, but it’s not completely dark yet,” the man said.

“Don’t you dare break my blindfold because I will eat you alive.” Etoile wanted to see who exactly her new rider was. She bend her head closer to the voice until she felt soft hands on her blindfold, fumbling with the straps around her head.

“Nothing of that now,” the rider said as he fiddled with the blindfold until he pulled the gear away from Etoile’s head and she could see the man that was supposed to be her new rider while they threatened to hurt her Laffy.

He carried himself with an air of confidence. Not Laffy’s confidence that came with training, age and knowledge, but more like Tommy’s confidence, the type that made a person think they were better than the rest of humanity and dragon kind and that they were entitled to all kinds of things normal people had to work hard to obtain.

She hated him already, because unlike Thomas, this man didn’t have his soft edges on display for the world to see if they bothered to look hard enough. The rider could be compared to a lump of steel thinking he was Arthur’s sword of legends.

“I am Cillian,” The man introduced himself, clearly not finding it necessary to give a last name. “And you shall be Servilia.”

“My name for the last 33 years has been Etoile, so no,” the dragon hissed and glared down at Cillian. “How dare you give me such a pathetic name?”

“Calm down, Servilia. No need for such rudeness,” Cillian said and shook his head. “Servilia means to serve, and that’s what you shall be doing for me.”

Etoile knew she didn’t have a choice, hitting her tail on the stones to show her displeasure.

An entire group of people walked up to Etoile with some heavy looking gear. She looked at them and back at Cillian, clearly asking for explanation.

“You don’t think I’m going to ride you alone, do you? You’re too big to control by myself,” Cillian said and walked over to the group of people to yell instructions while he himself did nothing.

Two men walked up to Etoile to take away Laffy’s riding gear. She refrained from hissing as they pulled it out of her claws and let them take it, even though she wanted to pull it back and curl up around it since it smelled like her Laffy.

They put the new gear on her back, much heavier and spanning across her back and chest instead of the light gear she was used to from only having one rider. The men attached provisions and weapons to her gear before climbing all over her back to attach themselves and find their spots.

Cillian never stopped shouting instructions, even though the people seemed to know what they were doing. He mounted last, climbing in Laffy’s spot between her shoulder blades, at the beginning of her neck.

“Did you take my blindfold?” Etoile asked and looked back at the many people crawling over her back and wondered how she could ever fly with so much weight dragging her down.

“No need, we’ll be back before it’s light,” Cillian assured and patted her neck. “Now let’s go, Servilia. Let me see what you can do.”

Etoile sighed and took a running start before jumping off the ground, hearing Cillian tsk when she pushed herself off of the ground and fly up, having to work harder now she was fully packed with about thirty people and a whole bunch of stuff she never had to carry before.

She continued to fly straight ahead from where she took off, finding the right currents as she leveled out at a comfortable height, flying away from the colors that painted the sky as day went over into night.

Etoile felt a dagger press against her scales not long after she leveled out, followed by the mean hiss of Cillian in her ear. “Are you deaf, beast? I said turn left, turn North. Are you incapable of understanding instructions now?"

Etoile quickly turned north, not wanting to find out what would happen if she didn’t listen to Cillian.

The extra weight she was carrying made it hard to perform the way Cillian ordered her to. The tasks that usually came almost without thinking were a drag to perform with so many people and gear on her back.

She was glad they finally got to land again, nearly not crashing to the ground, only stopped by the feeling of people dangling form her belly. They quickly took the gear from her back and left her there, leaving Etoile finally free of her bounds, although she was sore from the extra weight she had to carry. Laffy would usually massage her by walking over all her sore spots until she was content again, but with Cillian she didn’t expect anything but pain for as long as he was her aviator.

Cillian stood at Etoile’s head and stared up at her, making Etoile nervous about what he could say. He reminded her of Laffy when she stole a cow from a neighbor, but now she hadn’t done anything wrong. “You disappointed me. For someone that helped defeat us in America and is partnered up with one of the most famous French nobles, you can’t fly or follow orders the slightest.”

Etoile tensed up, her scales ripping over her muscles as she did so, a low growl escaping her throat. “Don’t disrespect my Laffy ever again or I’ll cut your head clean off your body and enjoy the taste. I can fly just fine when I’m not weighed down by fifty men clinging on too much riding gear with too much weapons. I can follow orders when I know what orders to expect.”

Cillian looked at her with too much glee for a tiny human that should be angry at her. “You’re badly trained. How could you have survived for so long without proper weapons training or movement instructions?”

“I was trained in a way that made words unnecessary and I could perform the fastest, sometimes even on my own accord!” Etoile replied.

Cillian shook his head before walking away. “I’m going to teach that Lafayette of yours a lesson,” he muttered.

Etoile roared and caught up to Cillian in two paces, pinning him to the floor and pushing a claw through his chest. The cry of pain Cillian gave made Etoile grin, right before someone knocked her off her feet and pinned her down.

Etoile turned around and swiped up at her attacker, a much bigger dark-colored dragon. She managed to strike the dragon between their eyes before jumping up, growling as she looked around, ready to attack anyone that dared to come close as she backed off.

The bigger dragon attacked her again once it regained himself, and soon enough they were rolling over the ground, a mess of wings and talons and teeth as they tried to one-up each other and pin the other down.

"Etoile!" Someone yelled at her through the midst of the battle, right as she was about to dig her teeth in the soft flesh of her attacker's throat. It caught her off guard and gave the big dragon a chance to get on top of her and pin her down, digging his talons in her wings and making her cry out.


End file.
